


The Life We Choose To Lead

by SleepySappho



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, It's Not Really Sexual, Praise Kink, Short
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27761062
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SleepySappho/pseuds/SleepySappho
Summary: A collection of catradora ficlets originally posted to my twitter
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 127





	The Life We Choose To Lead

**Author's Note:**

> This is just some emotions,,, some yearning.

"I love you so much."

It's far from the first time Catra's heard those words. Sometimes, they're comforting, an all-consuming warmth inside her. Sometimes, they feel like a knife slitting her open. 

"You're so sweet, so perfect. My beautiful girl." 

Catra squirms in her wife's arms, not quite trying to get away, not quite trying to get closer, just _moving,_ shifting uncomfortably and unsure. She knows better than to accuse Adora of lying, but it doesn't make it any easier to hear. 

Adora presses a kiss to the top of her head. "I love the way you feel in my arms. How soft you are. I could spend all day just touching you."

Catra buries her face in Adora's chest. "Adora…" she warns, growling slightly. 

Adora strokes her hair slowly, taking the time to massage Catra's scalp with her strong, firm fingers. "I know it's hard," she whispers, "but I want to tell you how I feel. How wonderful you are. Do you think you can take that for me? Be good for me and listen?"

Oh, that's not _fair._ Adora knows she can't say no to her when she talks like _that._ Catra settles in her wife's arms, stilling herself, and nods silently against Adora's chest. 

"So good for me," Adora coos, grinning wildly, "doing something hard to make me happy. You do that all the time, and not just for me. I know how hard it is, baby, how hard you work to make things better for other people, even when they don't see it, even when they don't appreciate it. It's wonderful."

Yeah, cause desperately trying to appease the all-consuming guilt she carries on her back is a _great_ character trait.

Adora slides her hand down from Catra's hair and begins tracing two fingers in slow, idle patterns in her back. "But even more wonderful, to me, is how hard you work for yourself. You're so good, and you get better all the time, better at letting yourself be happy. I'm so proud of you for that." 

Catra has to fight, hard, to keep her claws from flexing out and tearing at Adora's shirt. Anger roars to life inside her, undirected and confused, and she breathes slowly, focusing on the sound of Adora's voice. 

"I love you. I love you so much, you are the thing that makes me happiest, and I will always choose you, no matter what."

It's too much. _It's too much,_ she doesn't deserve any of this and she needs it to stop and she wants more, she wants everything Adora says to be true even though it's impossible, and the gulf between the woman she is and the woman Adora believes her to be just makes her feel worse, because she's _tricked_ Adora somehow, lied to her, and Adora doesn't really want her, she wants this magical, perfect Catra that only lives in her head not the pathetic, disgusting woman shivering in her arms right now. 

"I love you. I love the sounds you make in the morning when you're just waking up. I love the way you smile when you're winning an argument. I love the way you take care of me. You're the reason I know I'm allowed to want this, to want you, to be happy. Let me be that reason for you." Adora pulls her in closer, tighter, clutching the shaking woman to her chest. "Let me give you all the love you deserve." 

A sob bursts out of Catra's throat, and she gives in, curls in against Adora's body, letting her tears stain her undershirt. She loses everything but the shape of Adora's words, the soft sounds of them washing over her as she heaves wet, shattered sobs against the only thing she's ever wanted to have, the only person who wants her back, the woman who makes her feel useless and unworthy in comparison but who looks at her like she painted the stars across the sky. 

She lets those sobs empty her, a storm of fear and hurt pouring out of her heart. She sniffs in the sudden quiet that follows, feeling empty. Wanting Adora to fill her back up with something warmer, better.

"Hey," Adora murmurs, running a finger slowly up and down her wife's spine. Catra feels her muscles unclench and relax, one by one, and she pulls away from Adora's chest just long enough to give her a watery smile before tucking herself back into the safety of her body. 

"Keep going," she whispers, and she can _feel_ Adora's face shift into a smile against the top of her head. 

"Well," Adora begins, "I haven't even begun to tell you how beautiful you are…" 


End file.
